PITTSBURGH — U.S. Steel wrongly fired an Air Force reservist because she missed work due to her military deployments, according to allegations in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The plaintiff, Rebecca Jackanic, 33, of Coraopolis, said the company used restructuring as a pretext to fire her.

Jackanic said she had worked for U.S. Steel as an aircraft dispatcher or safety management specialist since 2002. In those jobs, Jackanic helped direct company-owned planes that carry executives to various U.S. Steel operations and to ensure the planes complied with federal safety regulations, she said.

Jackanic was also a sergeant in the reserves and deployed to Kuwait from 2003 to 2005 and at various times to other Middle East missions in 2009 and 2010.

But Jackanic was fired in March after she had deployed for a training mission involving aircraft housed at the 911 Air Wing west of Pittsburgh in November 2012.

“Upon her return from military leaves of absence, plaintiff was often placed on the least desirable shifts compared to other employees in similar positions,” her lawsuit said.

Her last deployment ended in May, but she was fired two months earlier when a U.S. Steel official left a message on her cell phone telling her she “had been terminated on account of an alleged reorganization/restructuring,” the lawsuit said.

Jackanic contends that, in fact, U.S. Steel officials didn’t like working around her Air Force reserve commitments.

A U.S. Steel spokesman said the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

“When I would get back from previous deployments, it was always made known that my military service was in issue,” Jackanic said.